Rancid

In the camp of critics, there is still no unanimity: some consider Rancid to be one, albeit rather talented, imitators of Clash , others rest on the politicization of their creativity, breaking through the energy, spectacular compositional moves. Be that as it may, it is necessary to recognize that Rancid Californians still remain one of the key figures of the reanimated punk of the 90s, full of ska and hardcore elements. Characteristically, they never sought to become a commercial sensation, much more appreciating independence and creative freedom. This helped them to maintain the trust of their loyal fans even when the punk began to steer little by little into the middle of the mainstream.

Future Rancid founders and big punk fans Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman grew up and studied together in the small working town of Albani, in the suburb of Berkeley. Operation Ivy , created by them in 1987, became their first team, which set serious goals for itself and gave the guys invaluable experience. The guys were strongly influenced by the Oi! Movement groups . . Today these adherents of ska-punk are already considered almost to the rank of saints. Armstrong guitarist and vocalist was hiding under the name “Lint”, Freeman bass guitarist called himself Matt McCall, and his company was made up by drummer Dave Mello and lead vocalist Jesse Michaels. In 1989, the Operation Ivy group ceased to exist. Two friends joined the Dance Hall Crashers ska-punk band for some time, then they tried to play Downfall. Rehearsals and performances were held in the evenings, and during the day I had to earn a living. Despite his young age, Tim Armstrong's relationship with alcohol had already gone so far that he had to be treated for alcoholism. To help a comrade resist this unequal struggle and to turn his attention to what he was really interested in, Freeman offered to give up his day job and give all his free time to his own musical team. From this friendly gesture in 1991, the Rancid group also grew up, which also included drummer Brett Reed (Brett Reed), Armstrong's neighbor in the apartment, well known to them since the heyday of Operation Ivy.

Intensive rehearsals allowed Rancid to open the touring season in a matter of months and travel around Berkeley and its surroundings with concerts. In 1992, the record label Lookout! Records agreed to publish their debut EP “I'm Not the Only One”, which included five songs. As is often the case, the disc had a relative self-worth and could rather serve as bait for larger fish. Fish pecked - Brett Gurevich (Brett Gurewitz), who headed the highly respected independent label Epitaph Records , offered Rancid a contract for quite comfortable conditions. In particular, the musicians received the widest rights to control the entire process of creating their albums.

In 1993, the "punk reanimators" prepared their full-length debut, "Rancid", a sample of strong hardcore punk rushing at fast speeds and flirting with early British punk. For the promo tour the team needed a second guitar player. At one of the concerts, even Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day guitarist, came to the rescue. But as a regular participant, the musicians wanted to see Lars Frederiksen ( Lars Frederiksen ), who had played in the UK Subs band in the past, and was listed as a member of the Slip team in the early 90s. First, Frederiksen declined the invitation to join the group, but as soon as Slip disbanded, he changed his mind. And now the Rancid quartet of Armstrong-Freeman-Reed-Frederiksen set off on a concert tour, first in the United States and then in Europe.

The studio debut of the new guitarist took place in early 1994 during the recording of the EP "Radio Radio Radio", made more for entertainment than for urgent need. The title track, “Radio,” was written by the band in collaboration with guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong. And only after that Rancid took up the second studio album “Let's Go”, prepared in late 1994. It was this record that opened the real Rancid punk underground. And the musicians themselves used this album to say a loud "thank you" to the London punks of the late 70s, especially the Clash group. Energy, pressure - that was unanimously noted by reviewers. “Sometimes it’s almost impossible to make out what Tim Armstrong sings, although it doesn’t matter much,” we read in an article by an American critic. “The main thing that the musicians want to convey is the humming guitars and the impetuous rhythm.”

Certain sympathies were caused by the creativity of the team and the leadership of MTV , in any case, it was then that the video Rancid first aired on the channel. It was a video for the famous single "Salvation".

For several months, the long play “Let's Go”, to the great surprise of the musicians, received first a gold and then a platinum certificate. And in the then neopank fashion, fueled by the quite successful Green Day and Offspring, the inevitable happened: the interests of several major labels converged on Rancid. Many sought to get them, even the Madonna Maverick label, and Clash's American representatives, Epic Records, offered half a million dollars to start. After some thought, the musicians decided not to change anything in their relationship with the recording industry, because no company guaranteed them the freedom of action that the independent label Epitaph provided them.

Moreover, as time has shown, it is possible to succeed without Leib Major. The third album of the quartet "... And Out Come the Wolves" (1995) confirmed this as well as possible. Even his name (something like "... And here came the wolves") ironically played up that predatory passion that caused the appearance of a new promising team in the music industry. Clash love on the third record was even more obvious. Especially since now it has been intensified by a keen interest in the revival of the original ska (what they did, for example, Specials ), which at one time was promoted by Clash. By this time, Frederiksen is increasingly involved in the life of the group, fulfilling on occasion the duties of the vocalist, and also increasingly becoming a co-author of the new material along with Armstrong and Freeman. Maybe because of this the team is getting more and more independent sound. And although this did not save the group from reproaches and imitation, the disc “... And Out Come the Wolves” was played so vigorously and convincingly that the group was ready to forgive all other shortcomings. MTV and radio stations began to actively promote the single "Ruby Soho", their tracks of popularity were Time Bomb (Top 10 in the rock chart) and Roots Radicals.

When the album reached 35th position in the Billboard 200 rating and got its one millionth customer, Rancid looked like one of the most compelling punk bands on the world punk scene. In 1996, the musicians traveled around America with the Lollapalooza festival tour, and then took a well-deserved time out. It was a break from Rancid, but not from music. Freeman used the respite to play in the group Auntie Christ, along with Ixen Červenka (Exene Cervenka), the former singer of group X. Meanwhile, Armstrong founded his own label Hellcat, a division of Epitaph. Together with Frederiksen, they sought out promising groups and were engaged in producing them.

In 1998, the quartet returned with a new studio attempt at Life Won't Wait, in which the elements of ska were even more accented. In the studio, during the recording, a whole flower garden was visited by guest vocalists, including members of the ska band Specials and Hepcat , Dicky Barrett from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones team and Roger Miret from Agnostic Front . Two tracks were created in a studio in Jamaica. The record did not reach the level of “And Out Come the Wolves”, but it completely satisfied the expectations of the fans.

Getting to their fifth album, which they decided to call simply “Rancid”, as well as their first child, the guys, as far as they could, moved away from ska and plunged into hardcore. 22 new songs performed by the speed method fit in just 40 minutes. Punk-commune took the LP "Rancid" with enthusiasm, but it did not receive a wide response, having sold about 150 thousand copies. In the three years that separated him from the next release, the musicians managed not only to revitalize the touring routes, but also to start their own projects. In particular, Frederiksen recorded the album “Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards” in 2001 together with the group Bastards, as the name implies. The basic composition of this team includes, besides him, also Tim Armstrong. They play and record both the author's material and the cover versions.

In the summer of 2003, shortly after the start of the Vans Warped Tour, who had again invited Rancid, a new long-play team called “Indestructible” appeared on the market. They were all the same well-known Californian punks: a little ska, a lot of politics, a lot of annoyance and vocal challenge (which Tim Armstrong is improving from album to album), a lot of passion and a lot of attention to melodies. The “Indestructible” CD turned out to be quite popular among mainstream fans. The 15th place on the Billboard 200 chart is the group's best result in its entire career. Familiarity with the new long-plei fans began with singles "Fall Back Down" (# 13 in the rock chart) and "Red Hot Moon".

In February 2004, the team gathered in a new world tour, which began with a monthly concert race in Japan. Each performance brings Rancid new fans, the number of which, especially among the very young music lovers, is growing from year to year. One of the reasons for their popularity, in the opinion of musicians, is full dedication, both on stage and in the preparatory stage of work. “We belong to the type of bands that 100% believe in every song they record,” says guitarist and vocalist Lars Frederiksen.

On April 7, 2009, a track appeared on the network from the upcoming album Let the dominoes fall - Last One To die.

The album itself was released on June 2. Musically, he reminds Indestructible , although there are new elements for the group - acoustic songs (with acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, percussion and mandolin). There are three such songs on the original album, but in the added edition there is a disc attached where most of the songs from Let the dominoes fall are replayed in acoustics.

• Tim Armstrong (Tim Armstrong) - vocals, guitar
• Matt Freeman - bass, vocals (in some songs)
• Brenden Steineckert (Branden Steineckert) - drums
• Lars Frederiksen (Lars Frederiksen) - guitar, vocals

• Brett Reed temporarily left the band in November 2006, replaced by Brendin Steinackert from The Used .

LP

EP

• Rancid ( 1992 )
• Radio Radio Radio ( 1993 )
• Let Me Go ( 2000 ) - Japanese release

Singles

Other releases

• BYO Split Series, Vol. 3 ( 2002 ) - with NOFX

• Rancid official website
• Official MySpace Rancid
• Rancid Live Records